"I seen it. Girl a-carryin’ a little one, jes’ like you. An’ she play-acted, an’ she hug-danced. And" – the voice grew bleak and ominous – "she thinned out and she skinnied out, an’ – she dropped that baby, dead…Dead and bloody."
– John Steinbeck
The Grapes of Wrath, Chapter 22. Religious zealot Lisbeth Sandry turns the very purpose for which Christianity was founded on its head. She uses religion to frighten the living daylights out of the pregnant Rose of Sharon. She warns her of a girl who lost her baby by miscarriage because of sinful dancing and play-acting, activities meant for fun and relaxation. Steinbeck criticizes religion through the use of irony using the character of the crazy "Sin Lady." Jesus-lover Sandry offers the unfortunate Rose of Sharon hate instead of love, and judgement instead of understanding and compassion.